Since it's that time of year... who's partaking in any of the Living Legends of Auto Racing and/or Back To the Roots events in Daytona this weekend and next week?
Is it drugs, brilliance, stupidity, a shot in the dark? You decide
http://www.racer.com/nascar/item/125311-nascar-caution-clock-revised-dash-4-cash-for-trucks-xfinity-series
http://www.racer.com/nascar/item/125308-nascar-chase-format-for-xfinity-truck-series
More sad news: http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/more/former-kn-champ-dane-90-passes-away/
Lloyd was the oldest living NASCAR champion.
On Bill Amick's win: from 1954-1961, NASCAR scheduled 2-10 or so races per year that counted for both NASCAR Grand National (GN) and Pacific Grand National points (PCGN). Winners of these races got credit for both a GN and a PCGN victory. Drivers who are credited with PCGN wins (or, vice versa, GN wins) in this manner are: Tim Flock, Herb Thomas, Dick Rathmann, Lloyd Dane, Eddie Pagan, Eddie Gray, Hershel McGriff, Parnelli Jones, Darel Dieringer, Dan Gurney, Bill Amick, Danny Letner, Jim Cook, Marvin Panch, Danny Graves, John Rostek, Royce Hagerty, John Kieper, Art Watts, Fireball Roberts, and John Soares, Sr. In addition, NASCAR did this with the Short Track Division, where drivers who won in one got credit for both, which is how Jim Reed has 11 PCGN wins.
From 1963-1997, the only combo races were at Riverside, College Station, Sonoma, Phoenix and Ontario, with 1994 Brickyard 400 also oddly being a one-off that counted.. Here, the overall winner got both a GN and a PCGN win. PCGN drivers got win points for being best amongst themselves, but they only got a career win if they won overall. Interestingly, during this time Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, and even Darel Dieringer ran the Riverside races as PCGN drivers (including his first GN win in 1963), getting credit for series wins in the process.
There were also combo races with ARCA in the 1990s, but overall NASCAR shifted do much of the monetary and media bias to the east. You'll get more details sometime in early to mid-December.
http://hometracks.nascar.com/records/NKNPSW_Career_Victories
Details are really foggy at the moment, but I have heard that Lennie Pond is battling lung cancer at this time. His family and friends ask for your thoughts and prayers as Lennie fights this illness.
Can't eat that Gerken without the Bun or you might arrested for Larson from shooting that Cannonball.
Great post, Chase!
I spent a while searching around the site, and I was [somewhat] surprised to see no Racing History Minute on the October 9, 1955 race held at the Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in LeHi, Arkansas. I decided to take it upon myself to do this recap of the race on the 1.5 mile dirt oval.
The race was a simple affair. Fonty Flock won the pole, but brother Tim led the first 42 laps. Speedy Thompson took the lead on lap 43 and led the rest of the way to take the win in his Ford.
The 40th race of the 1955 Grand National saw the debut of several famous drivers who all won GN races: Tiny Lund, Johnny Allen, Chuck Stevenson, and Norm Nelson. Lund and Allen are familiar names to NASCAR fans. Chuck Stevenson was the 1952 AAA IndyCar champion and a veteran of the Indy 500 (and would continue to race IndyCars well into the 1960s). Norm Nelson went on to be one of the best drivers in the Midwest rival of NASCAR, the USAC Stock Car Series.
In this race, all 3 Flocks raced together as teammates on the Kiekhaefer team. Bob, Fonty, and Tim drove the 308, 301, and 300, respectively. Nelson drove the 4th Kiekhaefer car, numbered 299. Over the years, Kiekhaefer numbers got a bit cheeky, with cars numbered 299, 300, 300A, 300B, 300C, 301, 500, 500B, 500D, 501, 502, and 901 all being used. It was only when I realized the Chrysler 300 and Dodge D-500 were the cars being fielded that I understood the numbering system, but that doesn't explain the #901. Several two digit numbers were used for races at Darlington, where the Kiekhaefer triple digits were, for some reason, forbidden.
There were an astounding 6 Pete DePaolo Fords in addition to 2 Charlie Schwam Fords. The drivers for DePaolo were Speedy Thompson, Marvin Panch, Buck Baker, Johnny Mantz, Chuck Stevenson, and Joe Weatherly; Billy Carden and Curtis Turner drove the Schwam Fords. It was a full all-star line up with 107 GN wins and 52 Convertible wins from these drivers. In addition, both Stevenson and Mantz had several IndyCar wins.
In spite of the large West coast presence, this race did not count for Pacific Coast GN points. For some unknown reason, Jim Reed was disqualified on lap 8 and moved to last in the results. Reed was, over the years, the subject of harsh punishments for NASCAR. Reed had multiple wins taken away over the years, which is harsh when considering NASCAR only disqualified 1 or 2 other drivers for violations over the years; most drivers would simply get fined, but Reed always got the axe.
There is a more important subject here, the story, rather stories, of 3 drivers: Tiny Lund, Ralph Liguori, and Johnny Allen.
The military had Allen stationed in Corpus Christi at the time, and Allen was getting involved in racing with Spook Crawford. Spook was appropriately nicknamed because he was a spook, or a driver who constantly was getting loose as he drove around the track. They acquired a Plymouth and went to Arkansas, since it was the closest race to where they were. And thus history began.
Lund was making his debut in Carl Rupert's Rupert Safety Belt car. During the race, Lund had a huge crash that saw him barrel roll several times and get thrown from the car... So much for those Rupert Safety Belts! Drivers had to swerve to avoid hitting both driver and car. Then along comes Ralph Liguori in his Julian Petty Chevrolet. Ralph has three choices: (1) hit Tiny, (2) hit Tiny's car and take himself out of the race, or (3) miss both and still crash himself out. Well, he's dead anyway, so I hit him! Ralph reasoned, and thus choice (1) was the winner. Ralph ran over Tiny's head, but, more than that, Tiny wasn't hurt by Ralph! Ralph went on to finish in 8th, one day before his 29th birthday. Tiny wound up in a hospital for two weeks with a broken arm and bruises.
It was a spectacular day in Arkansas.
| 1 | 10 | Speedy Thompson | 297 | Pete DePaolo | 1955 Ford | 200 | 2900 | running |
| 2 | 6 | Marvin Panch | 98 | Pete DePaolo | 1955 Ford | 200 | 1450 | running |
| 3 | 12 | Jimmy Massey | 4 | Hubert Westmoreland | 1955 Chevrolet | 196 | 1000 | running |
| 4 | 2 | Tim Flock | 300 | Carl Kiekhaefer | 1955 Chrysler | 195 | 850 | running |
| 5 | 8 | Bob Flock | 308 | Carl Kiekhaefer | 1955 Chrysler | 195 | 650 | running |
| 6 | 3 | Buck Baker | 87 | Pete DePaolo | 1955 Ford | 194 | 525 | running |
| 7 | 18 | Jimmie Lewallen | 88 | Ernest Woods | 1955 Oldsmobile | 190 | 400 | running |
| 8 | 25 | Ralph Liguori | 44 | Julian Petty | 1955 Chevrolet | 189 | 350 | running |
| 9 | 14 | Dink Widenhouse | B-29 | Dink Widenhouse | 1955 Ford | 185 | 250 | running |
| 10 | 20 | Bob Welborn | 49 | Bob Welborn | 1955 Chevrolet | 183 | 225 | running |
| 11 | 24 | Lee Petty | 42 | Petty Enterprises | 1955 Dodge | 183 | 150 | running |
| 12 | 35 | Bill Blair | 22 | Bill Blair | 1955 Oldsmobile | 182 | 125 | running |
| 13 | 22 | Hooker Hood | 188 | Hooker Hood | 1954 Oldsmobile | 177 | 125 | running |
| 14 | 40 | Al Hager | 12 | 1955 Chevrolet | 176 | 125 | running | |
| 15 | 27 | Leland Sewell | 51-X | Bill Taylor | 1955 Ford | 176 | 125 | running |
| 16 | 42 | Banks Simpson | 89 | Buck Baker | 1955 Buick | 172 | 95 | running |
| 17 | 31 | Johnny Allen | 64 | Spook Crawford | 1955 Plymouth | 169 | 195 | running |
| 18 | 39 | Norm Nelson | 299 | Carl Kiekhaefer | 1955 Chrysler | 162 | 95 | engine |
| 19 | 32 | Gene Rose | 84 | 1955 Chrysler | 160 | 95 | running | |
| 20 | 30 | Bob Coleman | 5 | 1955 Ford | 152 | 95 | running | |
| 21 | 20 | Roscoe Rann | 155 | 1954 Chrysler | 146 | 60 | running | |
| 22 | 7 | Herb Thomas | 92 | Herb Thomas | 1955 Chevrolet | 132 | 60 | rear end |
| 23 | 26 | Joe Guide | 52 | Sally Guide | 1953 Hudson | 125 | 160 | running |
| 24 | 41 | Bill Morton | 1 | Bill Morton | 1955 Buick | 123 | 60 | accident |
| 25 | 23 | Tiny Lund | 37 | Carl Rupert | 1955 Chevrolet | 65 | 60 | accident |
| 26 | 37 | Jim Murray | 46 | 1955 Buick | 63 | 60 | fuel pump | |
| 27 | 4 | Billy Carden | 99 | Charlie Schwam | 1955 Ford | 55 | 60 | accident |
| 28 | 17 | Joe Eubanks | 70 | Lancaster Brothers | 1955 Chevrolet | 46 | 60 | steering |
| 29 | 21 | Johnny Mantz | 15 | Pete DePaolo | 1955 Ford | 46 | 60 | vapor lock |
| 30 | 15 | Chuck Stevenson | 68 | Pete DePaolo | 1955 Ford | 43 | 60 | vapor lock |
| 31 | 13 | Gwyn Staley | 2 | Hubert Westmoreland | 1955 Chevrolet | 38 | 60 | fuel pump |
| 32 | 8 | Joe Weatherly | 86 | Pete DePaolo | 1955 Ford | 29 | 60 | vapor lock |
| 33 | 19 | Dave Terrell | 198 | Dave Terrell | 1955 Oldsmobile | 27 | 60 | accident |
| 34 | 16 | Russ Graham | 17 | Earl Wright | 1955 Chevrolet | 22 | 60 | overheating |
| 35 | 11 | Bill Widenhouse | 25 | Sam McCuthen | 1955 Chevrolet | 22 | 60 | radiator |
| 36 | 5 | Curtis Turner | 95 | Charlie Schwam | 1955 Ford | 19 | 40 | vapor lock |
| 37 | 38 | Eddie Skinner | 28 | Frank Dodge | 1953 Oldsmobile | 13 | 40 | gasket |
| 38 | 36 | Floyd Curtis | 112 | 1955 Ford | 10 | 40 | radiator | |
| 39 | 1 | Fonty Flock | 301 | Carl Kiekhaefer | 1955 Chrysler | 5 | 40 | radiator |
| 40 | 29 | Ted Cannady | 32 | Ted Cannady | 1953 Ford | 3 | 40 | piston |
| 41 | 33 | Jim Reed | 7 | Jim Reed | 1955 Chevrolet | 8 | disqualified |
I made a mistake in that already confusing post... Jocko JUNIOR was the Trans-Am champion. I am really impressed by your research on this one because finding information of these early NASCAR races is extremely difficult.
The Jocko Maggiacomo who Ann Bunselmyer raced against was actually Jocko Maggiacomo, Sr., who himself was a successful racer on the short tracks and road courses, and Jocko was the 1976 Trans-Am champion!
